Catching Up With Richard Speight Jr. in Chicago

Capturing the essence of a fan convention is not easy. There are multiple conventions taking place at any given moment, and rarely will two people have the same experience. There’s the con the fans attend and the con the celebrities attend, and then there’s that strange crossover con where the two meet.

There’s the newbie con —

“I’ve never been to a photo-op,” one fan fretted in the elevator. “What do I do?”

“Stand still and smile,” Kathy told her.

Strange advice from a woman who avoids photo-ops, indeed all cameras, as if they would snatch her soul. Then there are the seasoned con goers, some of whom seek to instruct (and perhaps chastise) those they deem less savvy than they are. (A list of Do’s and Don’ts posted in the elevator and restrooms? Really girls?)

There are the fans who have formed relationships with the actors and the ones who want no contact at all. The fans who attend the Q&A’s and call it a day, and those who party the night away, knocking back the purple nurples and belting out the karaoke.

And just like the fans who reunite with friends at the cons, the actors themselves often get rare moments to reconnect with colleagues in between the flashing of cameras and signing of autographs – many, many autographs.

Last weekend in Chicago, we got glimpses of all these cons from our strange, strange vantage point in the middle — back and forth between the green room and the packed theater, interlopers in both worlds.

We also got to reconnect with Richard Speight, Jr. (aka The Trickster, aka Gabriel). We first met Richard at last year’s Chicago Con and we’ve been stalking – umm, talking – with him ever since. His insights on being an actor, relating to fans, and keeping a level head have been helpful to us as we negotiate the unfamiliar waters of fame and fandom. So, we were thrilled when he was called in to replace Jake Abel at the last minute. (Not that we wouldn’t have been quite happy had Jake been there.) Richard opened his second pinch-hit Q&A (he filled in at the Supernatural convention in Vancouver over the summer as well) by joking, “Anytime a dude backs out, I’m in!”

Photo by Elizabeth Sisson

The pumpkin underwear story, in which Richard is puzzled by the disturbing appearance in his trailer of a pair of “men’s pumpkin colored bikini briefs” of unknown provenance, is now fandom legend (it doesn’t take long).

Also legendary is his appearance at Misha Collins’ Q&A, during which he confronted Misha about his questionable taste in underwear, resulting in the trading of increasingly provocative insults. We may have had something to do with that happening, as Kathy just can’t resist a good dare. Neither can Richard, apparently.

Backstage in the “green room” (they are never green) we talked to Richard about his relationship with his own fans – Trickster Chicks, Gabe Babes and everyone in between. He loved the fan video made about his character.

“I thought it was a real trip. It was like ‘I’ve arrived!’ I’ve crossed the threshold from fun guest star. . . I’m validated as part of the process (the mythology). . . it supercedes just being a fun character.”

In our position as middle-women (middle-fans??) we had sent him the link and then watched happily after the comment he made about the video on his Facebook page made its way back to the vidder who was thrilled that he had seen it. OMG may have been said. Multiple times.

“Do you know what else I thought was trippy?” Richard continued. “A fan made those little things, those icons – she did a bunch of those of the Trickster. I thought that was really neat.”

We also got the chance to ask him more about the latest episode he appeared on, “Changing Channels”.

“It was such a cool episode to read because I was going to get so much to do. Not screen time but choices and turns. There are very few jobs where I actually thought I was working for a living. That was one of them.”

Part of the fun for him was being able to dig in and develop his character.

“Because I sort of developed the guy two episodes earlier — and then I see where they’re taking him, and the veneer has to crack in those other, earlier scenes. In the sitcom scene where I throw Dean against the wall and say ‘You don’t know what you’re talking about!’ — that’s him manhandling the guys in a way he’s never done before. . . . This time it’s personal. . . . I really love that they didn’t go from jokey, jokey, jokey – to okay, I’m Gabe!”

Was he surprised? (We sure were!)

“I certainly didn’t see it coming. But it makes sense.”

Now with three guest appearances under his belt, and the likelihood of more to come (would the writers really leave things like that? We don’t think so!), Richard has an appreciation for the Supernatural cast and crew.

“It really is a team effort. TV is not always collaborative. Guest spots especially. This show is, at least with my part.

“I really like working on the show. Obviously any job I do, I want it to be well received, but there’s a handful of jobs in my life that I feel proud of. Proud of my work in it and sort of proud of the overall project. . . . That doesn’t happen very often. I always try to do my best work whatever I’m doing, obviously. . . . But I don’t ever think twice about it after it’s done. The part on Supernatural (and the other one would be Band of Brothers for me) I’m really attached to . . . and SPN – in a different way than Band because that was a real guy – with SPN I feel like I, along with the writers, was involved in creating who the character was. They gave me a lot of wiggle room, they gave me a lot of freedom and I felt like they’ve been happy with my choices and consequently they give me more to do. They go up and I go up.”

We also discussed his role in Showtime’s upcoming series Look, based on the 2007 film of the same name by Adam Rifkin. It’s told entirely from the point of view of surveillance cameras. “It’s very much a post 9-11 world – you’re being watched all the time. It’s really trippy.”

Trippy too, is the way Richard must have been feeling by 1:30 am, operating on almost no sleep. Having filmed in Detroit the night before (he plays a bad actor in the upcoming film Crave) until 4:00 am, he was on a plane at 7:00am, arriving just in time for his morning Q&A. That lack of sleep didn’t prevent him from stopping off at the hotel bar, many hours, photo-ops, and autographs later, to play a few games of pool with Aldis Hodge until we were all cleared out by the tired hotel staff at 3:00.

Jim Beaver picked up a cue himself after he finally wrapped his own dessert party appearance at 2:30 and then stayed up to chat with us over ham and cheese sandwiches until 4 am. But that’s for our next interview entry! Stay tuned…..

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Richard is a born story teller, and an incredible personality – I love the way he uses his entire body to narrate. He puts me in mind of a mini Bruce Campbell (which can’t ever be a bad thing!) His appearance during Misha’s panel was one of the high spots of the con for me, and I am proud to declare myself a huge fan of the man.

Thanks for the interview, guys, but he’s done four cons, not three – he was at Asylum in May too. May he attend many more. I never get tired of watching him.

I just love this guy! He really impressed me and made a great impression at the Chicago con in 2008. That was his first con (at least his first Creation con) and he was delightful. I have a major soft spot for him because of the way he treated me.

He most definitely is a natural story teller. Just a treat to watch as he gets into the story. Since I’m at work I couldn’t turn up the volume on the vids as much as I’d like to so I didn’t catch everything that was said. But Richard cracked me up with three words in the first one. When he thinks it must have been Jensen and Jared who left the underwear in his trailer: “the tall guys”. Classic!

Thanks for sharing the interview with us. We appreciate all the “hard work” you go through to get these fun reads for us!

Fan Phenomena: Supernatural on Amazon

Fangasm on Amazon

Fandom at the Crossroads on Amazon

Fan Culture: Theory/Practice on Amazon

Our Story

This is the story of two college professors who fell hard for a show called Supernatural. Obsession, devotion, fascination, call it what you will. We decided to figure out what was going on with us by writing a book on fandom from the fans' perspective. As academics do, we hit the libraries and internet, accumulating stacks of articles and hundreds of pages of research. We typed and revised and theorized, quoted and footnoted, and ended up with an academic text crammed full of the current scholarship on fandom.

This is not that book.

Somewhere along the line, the research took a back seat to the road trip as we traveled across the US and Canada interviewing the show’s fans, as well as the actors and directors, writers, journalists, bloggers, convention organizers, significant others and insignificant hangers-on. Fangasm! is the story of that year-long roadtrip -- the surprises we never saw coming, the secrets uncovered, the behind-the-scenes insights, the heartwarming and heartbreaking fan confessions. It’s also the story of our shared obsession and the friendship that sustains us through 4 am line-ups, overtaxed credit cards, canceled flights and airport camp-outs, and of course the occasional accusations of insanity.

Order Fangasm now from Amazon by clicking the link at the top of this page.

Media Coverage

Check out the February 2016 issue of Nylon Magazine - we're quoted in an article about fandom!

What Else We’re Writing

We've written several articles for Supernatural Magazine, including features on the fan convention experience, and behind the scenes on the set. We have also written the academic version of this story, Fandom at the Crossroads: Celebration, Shame and Fan/Producer Relationships , and edited a collection on fan culture, Fan Culture: Theory/Practice.
You can also order our book Fan Phenomena: Supernatural, with chapters by cast, crew and fans of Supernatural. Check out what Misha Collins and Richard Speight, Jr. have to say in their insightful (and amusing) chapters. Click the links at the top of the page to order.

And coming in May 2017, look for an exciting new book - Family Don't End With Blood: Cast and Fans on How Supernatural Changed Lives with powerful chapters by ten Supernatural actors including Jared Padalecki!

Kathy is also the Principal Editor and Lynn on the Editorial Board of The Journal Of Fandom Studies, published by Intellect. The most recent issue is available now.